Met with Sarah and reviewed my Thesis Proposal feedback:
https://jasonjsnell.notion.site/Proposal-Feedback-182d1b8486ab4914b29c6168b05868cf
We covered all the feedback, and spent the most time on a few topics.
One comment in the feedback was being aware of my “positionality” (new term for me) of being a white, male, American using methods and having inspiration from Eastern religion and cultural practices. Is using the act of meditation in my performances somehow extractive to the Eastern cultures that use meditation much more than Western or Christian culture (which has some form of meditation, but is often described more as reflection or contemplation). I’m so used to meditation (I began in 1996) that I hadn’t thought of it through the same lens as the extractive practice / industry of yoga, where an Indian practitioner can’t get a job at a yoga studio, but an attractive white woman gets it. My Eastern influences began early – my father taught my brother about all the world religions from a young age (his closing prayer to our Sunday lessons who say “Jesus, Moses and Muhammad, Confucius and Krishna, Lao Tsu and Buddha”) and was exposed to a meditation practice at age 19 from friends in the Iowa rave scene who grew up in Fairfield, IA, the location of Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation university (MIU, later renamed MUM). But these experiences don’t change the immediate perception that I’m a middle aged white man meditating on a stage with an EEG. It seems like it’s a deep topic with many layers and it’s important that I explore it, even if I don’t come up with a fix or universal answer to the issue of cultural extraction.
We also discussed the NYU IRB and I emailed them after the meeting with a question about do I need a review to do play testing with other classmates and when I cross that threshold for needing a review of my project.
Meeting notes:
https://jasonjsnell.notion.site/2023-03-21-4298dab206914f03a9a92f6c074cc495
That is a really interesting topic and conversation!
Being ABC (american born chinese) I have an interesting experience with this. A lot of my most beloved spiritual teachers are white men, especially the once I have been introduced to first. I believe one of the reasons is because English is my first language and the one I’m most well versed in. This has created some inner conflict within me for some time, because I know a lot of these practices have eastern origins, and I feel very disconnected from spirituality that originated in Chinese culture. (also side note on this also feel conflicted about the lack or at least less presence of women leaders in the space)
I remember a moment when a friend of mine was talking about a well known QiCong teacher who was a white man, and I felt very strange about learning QiCong from him because it originated from Asia. Similarly feel a little weird listening to spiritual teachers like Wayne Dyer read the Tao. But I definitely don’t think they have any malicious intent.
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